New to the Forum, Back to the Hobby

JohnAddis said:

My dog recently convinced me that I needed to get some fish again. (It's a long story.)

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Bring it on - bound to me more interesting than an empty 29. And what's the story with your water? Too hard/alkaline?


A guy is driving around the back woods of Montana and he sees a sign in front of a broken down shanty-style house: 'Talking Dog For Sale ' He rings the bell and the owner appears and tells him the dog is in the backyard.

The guy goes into the backyard and sees a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there.

'You talk?' he asks.

'Yep,' the Lab replies.

After the guy recovers from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he says 'So, what's your story?'

The Lab looks up and says, 'Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.'
'I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running.. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.' 'I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.'

The guy is amazed. He goes back in and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

'Ten dollars,' the guy says.

'Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?'

'Because he's a liar. He never did any of that sh*t.'

jonclark96 said:

Welcome to the forum and back to the hobby. What kind of fish are you thinking about?

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Jefft said:

There was this guy back in the 70's whose dog talked to him too. In that case and any others where the dog is talking I would say best not to listen. In this case though it sounds like solid advice even if it leads to addiction. Welcome.

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Tony said:

My dogs talk to me as well.

Welcome to the forum, John. You should try to hit up a monthly meeting in Silver Spring some time. We have two more before the summer break... the first being next weekend. I promise you won't be let down.

Cheers.

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Avatar said:

Bring it on - bound to me more interesting than an empty 29. And what's the story with your water? Too hard/alkaline?

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My wife and I were in Pet* (Petsmart? Petco? I don't know which is which) a couple weeks ago, probably buying dog toys. Jake (that's my dog, not my wife) was getting restless -- he's a 15-month Golden Retriever, which is the same as saying that he's a crazy, 65-pound, fuzzball -- so she took him for a walk around the store. When I joined them they were near the fish area. They have bags of gravel and stuff on the floor underneath the tanks. He walked up to sniff them, not really paying any attention to the tanks. The movement of the fish must have caught his eye because he jumped back from the tanks, backed away carefully, and hid behind my leg. It's pretty funny to see 65 pounds of dog running away from a tank of Neons. So of course, I had to go back the next day and see if he did it again. I mean, it's important to socialize your dogs to situations like that, right?

And then I went back again, and again, and...

As for my weird water... Out of the tap, it's about pH 7.5, and GH of 140ppm. In the tank (with some Holey Rock and 'Cichlid Sand') the pH is around 8 and the GH is 160ppm. Not bad... but my KH barely registers. I was kinda shocked by that. I need to re-run the test, just for my own sanity.

JohnAddis said:

Not bad... but my KH barely registers. I was kinda shocked by that. I need to re-run the test, just for my own sanity.

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dogofwar said:

One of the great things about being in a fish club is that there are lots and lots of folks who would be happy to loan you a mature sponge filter or two to instantly seed your tank with all of the benefical bacteria that you could ever want...

Matt

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Tony said:

John, If you're coming to Saturday's meeting, I'll bring you a sponge. All you need is an air pump and airline tubing and you'll have an instantly cycled tank.

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